Female hysteria was a once-common medical diagnosis, made exclusively in women, which is today no longer recognized by modern medical authorities as a medical disorder. Although it Is physical, it is also psychological. Its diagnosis and treatment were routine for many hundreds of years in Western Europe. Hysteria was widely discussed in the medical literature of the Victorian era. Now we have "Sexology" which majors in the sexual health of todays men and women.

Women considered to be suffering from it, exhibited a wide array of symptoms including faintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in abdomen, muscle spasm, shortness of breath, irritability, significant weight gain, loss of appetite, lack of desire to perform various activities and "an unaware tendency to cause trouble"

Since ancient times women considered to be suffering from hysteria would sometimes undergo "pelvic massage" — manual stimulation of the genitals by the doctor until the patient experienced "hysterical paroxysm" (orgasm).

Early history

The history of hysteria can be traced to ancient times; in ancient Greece it was described in the gynecological treatises of the Hippocratic corpus, which date from the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. Plato's dialogue Timaeus tells of the uterus wandering throughout a woman’s body, strangling the victim as it reaches the chest and causing disease. (In these days we just call it horny, lol) This theory is the source of the name, which stems from the Greek word for uterus, hysteria (ὑστέρα). It is not a joke though. Our body needs all the hormones to function properly... experiencing an orgasm awakens and stimulates the production and release of endorphins, and who knows what other hormones it may release that have not been discovered and studied yet, because they are only released during an orgasm, they may even be undetectable... What I do know for a fact, is that women (and men) who have regular release stay physically younger, look younger, feel younger and are "much healthier" physically and mentally than women and men who do not, or who have sex often, but without Any release.

Galen, a prominent physician from the second century, wrote that hysteria was a disease caused by sexual deprivation in particularly passionate women: hysteria was noted quite often in virgins, nuns, widows, as well as neglected married women. The prescription in medieval and renaissance medicine was intercourse if married, marriage if single, or vaginal massage (pelvic massage) by a midwife as a last recourse.

There were specialty medical professionals and noted scientists, who dealt specifically with this issue, and studied women trying to find a cure. I now consider them our modern day OB GYN's, lol. The problem is, if your gynecologist recommended manual stimulation, the woman would sue his butt and brand him a pervert. Some sexologist will provide this service in your area, but everyone is afraid/too ashamed to ask.

There were many methods to treat hysteria. One of them was to sit the woman in a chair with her legs spread and then a stream of water was used to stimulate her genitals. I can assume you probably know what that feels like, many women confess to pleasuring them selves in the shower ;)

The photo below seems a little threatening/ definitely exaggerated, just look at the size of the hose, duh, it would wash her clear out of the room, lol...I only posted it for documentation:

Water massages as a treatment for hysteria. 1860.

The other was to masturbate her genitals till she achieves an orgasm. Some used gentle, pulsating electrical currents called tens to stimulate an orgasm.

More about this now:

A physician in 1859 claimed that a quarter of all women suffered from hysteria. One physician cataloged 75 pages of possible symptoms of hysteria and called the list incomplete almost any ailment could fit the diagnosis. Physicians thought that the stresses associated with modern life caused civilized women to be both more susceptible to nervous disorders and to develop faulty reproductive tracts. In America, such disorders in women reaffirmed that the United States was on par with Europe; one American physician expressed pleasure that the country was ”catching up” to Europe in the prevalence of hysteria.

Rachael P. Maines has observed that such cases were quite profitable for physicians, since the patients were at no risk of death, but needed constant treatment. The only problem was that physicians did not enjoy the tedious task of vaginal massage (generally referred to as 'pelvic massage'): The technique was difficult for a physician to master and could take hours to achieve "hysterical paroxysm." Referral to midwives, which had been common practice, meant a loss of business for the physician.

Advertisement from 1910.

A solution was the invention of massage devices, which shortened treatment from hours to minutes, removing the need for midwives and increasing a physician’s treatment capacity. Already at the turn of the century, hydrotherapy devices were available at Bath, and by the mid-19th century, they were popular at many high-profile bathing resorts across Europe and in America. By 1870, a clockwork-driven vibrator was available for physicians. In 1873, the first electromechanical vibrator was used at an asylum in France for the treatment of hysteria.

While physicians of the period acknowledged that the disorder stemmed from sexual dissatisfaction, they seemed unaware of or unwilling to admit the sexual purposes of the devices used to treat it. In fact, the introduction of the speculum was far more controversial than that of the vibrator.

A 1918 Sears, Roebuck and Co. ad with several models of vibrators.

By the turn of the century, the spread of home electricity brought the vibrator to the consumer market. The appeal of cheaper treatment in the privacy ofone’s own home understandably made the vibrator a popular early home appliance. In fact, the electric home vibrator was on the market before many other home appliance ’essentials’: nine years before the electric vacuum cleaner and 10 years before the electric iron. A page from a Sears catalog of home electrical appliances from 1918 includes a portable vibrator with attachments, billed as ”Very useful and satisfactory for home service.”

From the beginning of time God has created us to fill the Earth, He has made us all sexual beings by nature. We need another's touch, we need someone to talk to, we need love, intimacy and human interaction at all times. Even our physical bodies crave it, long for it and let us know when it's time to satisfy our needs through physical symptoms. No one can explain how and why we get depressed when we are lonely, why we get horny, or get blue balls, why we start having mental problems when we are deprived of the things we were made to do.

Our bodies are connected, organ to organ, tissue to tissue, nerve ending to nerve ending, we are an amazing species, so full of beauty and wander. Doctors are still discovering new things, new functions, and learning things they never even imagined were possible, and we develop new illnesses and immunities, and it will go on as long as we exist.

Lack of sexual satisfaction and intimacy is still the biggest cause for women's problems.Single women as well as females in a relationships who do not get regular release, are most likely to suffer mental and physical discomfort, and no matter what the scientists and doctors choose to call it... It's very real, and it has been for centuries.

Scientific research and medical articles all state: "The thing all patients have in common, is that they are not faking the illness".

Throughout time and name changes, women have kept getting sick. “The symptoms themselves have never changed,” said Patrik Vuilleumier, a neurologist at the University of Geneva. “They are still common in practice.”

Common, perhaps. Well studied, no. There is still no consensus on how hysteria, (now "conversion disorder") should be classified, and not all physicians agree on diagnostic criteria. The epidemiology is hazy; one commonly cited statistic is that this disorder effects 76 percent of All women around the world.

What exactly were doctors thinking back in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity, when they utilized vibrator therapies on their female patients in the name of medical treatment?

And what did the women think was happening to them when doctors allayed their so-called 'hysteria' with a very personal newfangled machine? That's what Sarah Ruhl wondered when she set out to write IN THE NEXT ROOM or the vibrator play.

Hysteria was a real diagnosis, and a quite common one given to women in the Victorian age. Just as common was medical treatment with electrical stimulating machines, the vibrators of the day, to ease their condition!

IN THE NEXT ROOM or the vibrator play is a provocative, funny, touching and marvelously entertaining story about a young doctor and his wife. Dr. Givings (Michael Cerveris) is obsessed with the marvels of technology and what they can do for his patients.

His wife, Catherine, (Laura Benanti) is only a bystander in her husband's world - listening at the door from the next room as he treats his female patients. Dr. Givings is not sure exactly how the vibrators help the women he treats - but they do keep coming back. The only woman whose problem is not helped by the doctor is his own wife who longs to connect with him - but not electrically.

Three years after her New York debut with The Clean House at the Newhouse, Sarah Ruhl returned to LCT, in our 25th anniversary season, to make her Broadway debut with IN THE NEXT ROOM or the vibrator play. Les Waters, who staged the play's acclaimed debut production last season at Berkeley Rep, directed for Broadway.